6. Motive

After Davis was fully out of their home Severus sat next to Hermione and asked, "Umbridge?"

"You know I'm the one who lead her to the Forbidden Forest. At the time I didn't know exactly what the Centaurs did to their captives. I have a better idea now."

"And knowing what you do now?"

"That at the very least they scared the hell out of her, and at the worst she was gang raped and almost murdered before Dumbledore was able to get her out…I'd like to think I could have come up with a better way of dealing with the problem. Maybe led her to Hagrid's cabin and let Fang go after her… Maybe I could have done a better job of convincing Harry to keep his butt in the castle…" Snape smirked at that idea.

"Nothing was going to keep Harry in the castle. In fact, getting him out was part of the plan." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know how much of it she remembers. Dumbledore made sure that she didn't know all of what happened. Among other things the fewer people who could figure out that I was the one who told the Order you were on your way to the Ministry the better. As to what actually happened to her? My guess is they just scared her badly, maybe a bit of pain, by the time you knew them I don't think any of the Centaurs in the Forest would allow themselves to be polluted by the touch of a human."

"Somehow that's not much of a relief." Hermione sighed.

"Well, if the memory charm broke, she'd have a reason. And she's certainly the sadistic vindictive type."

"Would she be able to find a spell like this?"

"And could she cast it?" Severus stood up, and offered his hand to Hermione. "Let's make some dinner. You need the food, and I need something to do with my hands while I think."

"I don't know if I can eat."

"That's fine. I'll put it on a plate, and you eat what you can."

Hermione sat listlessly at the kitchen table while Severus began to make dinner. He was hoping some food would help perk her up.

"You put Malfoy on your list. Do you really think…" She let the idea trail off.

"No, not really. I don't think he hates either of us, or anyone else for that matter, enough to do this. And it's not really his style. But I've learned that if you protect someone because you think it probably wasn't that person it comes back to bite you."

"Bellatrix is really dead…" It was a statement rather than a question. If anything it was almost a hope. If Bellatrix was around she could certainly muster the power to cast a spell like that, but she was also wild and sloppy, and that would make her easy to find.

"Bellatrix is really dead. There's no way she could have gone underground for eight years. As long as she was alive there would have been Dark Marks found hanging around Wizarding Britain. She would have been a good bet. It's nasty and her one true love, besides Voldemort, was pain." Severus began to put food on the counter and heat up a fry pan.

"My guess is it's not going to be anyone we'd think of." He began to mix some pancake batter. He knew that breakfast food for dinner was high on her list of comfort food. "It'll be some baby Death Eater neither of us ever noticed, with delusions of grandeur and an overactive sense of revenge." He cracked an egg into one pan while flipping a pancake in the other.

Hermione stared at her plate. "Rita Skeeter," she said softly.

"Why is she on your list?"

"I kept her in a jar for four weeks and blackmailed her into not writing about Harry anymore." She said it matter of factly, kind of like the way you'd say, 'I went to get some coffee this morning.'

"Oh…" Snape thought for a minute. He was beginning to realize that he missed quite a bit of what was beneath the surface of the Good Girl Know It All at Hogwarts. "That would be more than ten years ago. Why now?"

"Anyone from our past is more than ten years ago. So why now?" Neither said anything. He put pancakes on her plate next to a piece of bacon, and began a plate for himself. She repeatedly stabbed the pancakes with her fork, without seeming to notice she was doing it.

"You're sure they were all Muggles?"

He sighed. "It's possible one was a Witch. But, it's so unlikely. We're talking about eight women since the war ended. I never saw any of them twice. Most of them never told me a last name, or asked mine. I assumed they knew this wasn't for keeps. Do you sleep with a man you've known for two hours if you're looking for something other than a quick night out?"

"I wouldn't know." Her fork made a slight chipping sound as it punched through the pancake into her plate. It occurred to Severus that this possibly wasn't the best time to be talking about his pre-Hermione post-Lily love life.

"I think tomorrow we should see if Bill can talk to us." He said in an effort to change the subject.

"Why Bill?"

"He's a Curse Breaker. Everyone who's gone after this before has been a Healer. Maybe someone who specializes in curses will have some fresh insight."

"Maybe…I can't think of anything that hadn't been tried." Hermione began to cry again. Severus moved to her seat and held her.

"I know. That's why we'll talk to Bill."